Power supply is a main factor affecting the operation stability and quality of a computer system. As advance of technology increases, demand of electronic equipment (such as hard disks, central processors, burners, and the like) for higher electricity quality is also greater. Unstable power supply will result in poorer output electricity quality and disruption of computer system and electronic equipment operation. In serious situations, important data could be lost and result in severe damages.
Besides electricity quality, wiring of power cords of power supply is also a problem that users often encounter. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional power cord a and a terminal socket a1 (such as SATA, AT/ATX sockets) usually are connected horizontally. When the terminal socket a1 is plugged in an electronic equipment, in addition to the existing length of the terminal socket a1, a bending length for the power cord a has to be reserved. As the present computer system has a limited interior space, the power cord a and the terminal socket a1 take too much space. Wiring for the spared line becomes a problem. Ineffective wiring could result in undesirable heated air ventilation and poor heat dispersion, and affect computer system operation. This is a particular concern to the designers and manufacturers of computer cases. As the computer case generally adopts a side connection design to improve the problem of a small gap between the electronic equipment and the power supply that affects heat dispersion and wiring, and provide hot swap electronic devices. If the length of the power cord a and the terminal socket a1 is too big, the computer case has to be redesigned (such as increase the total width of the case), design and fabrication costs become higher. It is not economic effective.
To remedy this problem, referring to FIG. 2, some vendors adopt a piercing power cord b like telephone lines. The concept is to connect a power cord b with a terminal socket b1 in a vertical fashion. The bending length required on the power cord a1 may be saved, and the aforesaid problems are eliminated. But to pierce the power cord b, the terminal socket b1 should have a sharp end on a conductive terminal b2 to penetrate the insulation layer on the outer side. The sharp end is in contact with the conductive core of the power cord b in a point or line contact fashion to establish electric connection. As the electronic equipment requires a large amount of current, the aforesaid electric connection tends to generate pulse sparks. Moreover, vendors and users often cannot make sure that the electric connection is well established by such a connection. This could result in poor electric transmission quality. Furthermore, both the piercing power cord b and the conventional power cord a are difficult to plug in and pull out. Because of these disadvantages the power cord b and terminal socket b1 are still not widely used in the computer systems.